A Beetle's Shell
by Armads the Doom Bringer
Summary: Shino prides himself on being aware of his surroundings and being able to find logical solutions to his problems. So why can't he find a logical way of going about this problem?
1. Introduction

Shino sat underneath a tree as he tried to figure out where his two teammates were. Kiba, with his usual brash attitude, had challenged Hinata and Shino to a game of tag. Of course it was never a simple game whenever Kiba was involved. The dog-loving boy had a habit of going overboard whenever contests were involved.

Shino sat as stiff as a statue as his insects flew all over the surrounding area. Sure they could hide from one man, but it was doubtful that they could hide from millions of tiny insects. Shino jumped to his feet and began moving north, towards two chakra signatures that his bugs had recognized. One was defiantly Akamaru, while the other was… Hinata?

Stopping a few meters away, it appeared that Hinata and Akamaru were together, but where was Kiba? It wasn't like him to just leave Akamaru alone, nor was it like Hinata to be in a contest like this without her Byakugan activated. The entire situation felt… wrong.

"Gatsuuga!"

Shino had barely a second to react before the tree he was hiding behind splintered into thousands of deadly wooden needles while the Human drill that was Kiba kept moving forward before landing on a branch as gently as a butterfly landed on a flower.

"That's game Shino," Kiba said as he turned around smirking as if he had just won the lottery. At first Shino couldn't figure out what the flea-infested shinobi was talking about. Hundreds of angry buzzing insects suddenly made Shino look at his left arm with disapproval.

"It appears that you're wrong this time Kiba," Shino said in his drawling monotone of a voice. "I believe you said that you had to hit me."

"And what do you call that cut?" Kiba howled with his trademark bestial anger.

"All you managed to do was slice my clothing. I don't think that counts as a hit." Shino swayed back, anticipating his teammate's inevitable attack. Sometimes it was too easy to goad the guy into a fight.

"C-cut it out you two," Came Hinata's quiet voice from behind Shino. "Please it's getting late… Can't you just settle this later like you always do?"

"Well if four-eyes would just admit that I am capable of beating him we would never have to fight again…" It was beyond obvious that Kiba really wanted to continue. Shino respected him as a teammate, even as a friend in most cases. Years of fighting together had forged a brutal cycle of one-upmanship between the two of them, a cycle that Shino regarded as being more trouble than it was worth.

"As fun as it would be to give you fleas, it is getting dark. There will be time to kick your butt all over Konoha later."

Kiba fumed, clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, and acting like the beast he was trying to be. Shino never understood why his teammate wanted to be so similar to his bestial counterpart. Sure the Inuzuka were known for the skill in handling the animals, but it didn't mean they had to be so similar to them. It wasn't like he was pollinating flowers in his free time or anything.

"Kiba-kun please calm down…" Hinata ran over to her now enraged comrade, trying as best as she could to stop him from flying into frenzy. Right as he thought his comrade was going to attack in a fit of rage, Kiba shook his head and sighed.

"Alright… But this isn't over Shino!" Kiba took Hinata's arm and began walking towards Konoha with Akamaru following in step.

"Like a dog with its tail between its legs," Shino muttered before moving to catch up with his teammates. Shino had noticed that Hinata had been getting rather close to Kiba as of late. Not being to one to cause problems, he silently observed the pair from afar. Gathering information was always important when it came to being a shinobi regardless of what that information entailed.

With any luck his teammates would keep the drama to a medium and leave him out of it. The last thing he needed was an angry Hyuuga and a flea-infested psychopath taking out their anger, frustration, and rage upon him. As he walked he silently prayed that nothing horrible would come of these recent developments.

Somehow Hinata had managed to convince Shino that he needed to share a few drinks with the man that had been attacking him not ten hours before. Unfortunately Hinata had been convinced to go home early by Kiba. Not wanting to seem rude or impolite he sipped idly at his sake, waiting for whatever Kiba wanted to talk about.

A loud sigh came from the seat next to him at the bar as Kiba set his drink down. "So figured out what I wanted to talk about yet?" For once Kiba sounded slightly distant, like his head was somewhere else. And for once it wasn't because of what he was drinking.

"I assume it has something to do with Hinata. Why else would you have asked her to leave?"

Another long sigh came from Kiba before he had another sip of his drink. "Man I can't pull one over on you can I? You have to be psychic or something."

"No I'm just observant to the world around me. It doesn't take a genius to figure out what Hinata's attempting to do based on her recent actions."

"I really hate how you can turn something emotional into a completely logical situation."

"Relax it isn't like I'm saying anything that you didn't already know."

"That doesn't mean that you have to be so cold about it."

"If I was warmer you'd probably try to kill me thinking I was someone else."

"Would be too hard with how much you cover yourself up," Kiba chuckled. "Well do you want to know why I asked you to come here or not?"

"That would be the only reason I'm still here. But whatever it is, you and Hinata obviously planned this ahead of time."

Kiba paled for a second before taking another drink. "I didn't think we were being that obvious about it. Still Hinata seems to want to be a little closer than teammates you know? She wanted me to make sure you weren't going to flip out about it."

"As long as you both remain capable shinobi, I don't really care about your personal lives."

"Man, Shino you need to lighten up. Maybe you should consider getting yourself a girlfriend or something."

Shino glared through his dark glasses. "That serves no practical purpose for me, so why bother with it?"

"One day I hope someone is able to peel off your shell, because I don't think that you're getting too much oxygen to that brain of yours."

"You're one to talk, considering you had to drink a bottle of sake before talking to me about this."

Kiba glared at him as he took another drink. "Even bugs need each other Shino." Kiba set his cup down and stood up. "Still I'm glad you're ok with all this. I'll try to keep you out of everything if I can." Without another word Kiba walked off, leaving Shino alone at the bar. No matter how many times he replayed the conversation in his head, Shino couldn't help but feel like he had come off on the losing end of it.


	2. Chapter 2

He wasn't really so cold, was he?

That was the question that had occupied Shino's mind since he had shared sake with Kiba nights before. Normally he would have chalked it up to being something stupid that Kiba said; heaven knows every other thing out of the fleabag's mouth could be considered inane. Instead it had stuck with him like it was the lone piece of mysterious and valuable knowledge that eluded his mind's every attempt to fathom it.

In short, Kiba was making him look like an idiot. And Shino hated when Kiba showed him up. It didn't help that in the past few days both Kiba and Hinata had been showing more affection towards one another during training, and spent more time off by themselves during the rest of the day. It only made Shino look even less like a human being and more like some kind of robot. He couldn't understand what they were doing, or why they were doing it. He simply couldn't comprehend the idea that the tow of them were attracted to one another in a romantic sense... and that they were actually showing it.

Shino kicked a rock down the street in frustration as he walked around alone after his training session with the two lovebirds. This whole situation stunk, but he wasn't going to ruin the happiness of his teammates to make himself feel better. A worker bee couldn't do something that hurt the rest of the hive to make itself feel better.

He had considered asking his parents about how to proceed before scrapping that idea. More than likely they would just have told him to ask his insects. Not that they were any help; their only concern was his well being, not his happiness or his intellectual conundrums. They could no more help him with this than they could with advanced spatial mathematics.

Enough was enough. Shino refused to let anything said by that flea-bitten fool get to him. He was above that! Besides, anything Kiba could do besides being an idiot and smelling like a dog, Shino could do better. He could prove that he wasn't cold and distant! All he needed to do was woo some woman and prove himself just as sensual and deep as Kiba.

Did he just call Kiba, the man who occasionally scratched behind his ears with his feet, deep? Clearly he would have to make this a priority before he starting considering Kiba to be some kind of Casanova. There was no way he would accept that and live.

Now, he had to figure out his options. It had to be a kunoichi; a normal woman would probably be turned off by the fact that he was basically a walking bug jar, even if they were at his beck and call.

There was Ino Yamanaka, that blond woman who was more competitive than his understanding of her skill level allowed. She was loud, obnoxious, and far too clingy for Shino's tastes. And then there was the fact that she hated bugs. She'd never do.

There was Sakura Haruno, the protégé of Tsunade and the rival of Ino. Of course, she was always working with Naruto Uzumaki, a man who Shino respected... but was almost as annoying as Kiba. That was a major problem, because Shino would have to spend more time around him in order to get closer to her. Then again, she was strong, intelligent, and didn't have a problem with getting her hands dirty. Of course like Ino, she possessed a temper, and with her strength made her dangerous. He'd consider her a possible maybe.

There was that Sand kunoichi named Temari, but the fact that she was from another village would make things difficult. And she was also rumored to be in some form of relationship with that Nara guy. And she was related to a guy who spent too much time working with puppets. Kind of odd. And she was the sister of the Kazekage who manipulated sand and had no concept of forgiving his enemies. He was better off not trying to woo her, he could only imagine it ending with him trapped in sand while he was turned into a puppet by her creepy face paint wearing brother.

He was starting to run out of options. That woman who wore mesh was probably too old and gave him a bad vibes. He couldn't try to woo the Hokage or her assistant. Kurenai-sensai was out of bounds. Kiba had a sister, but putting the moves on her would probably get him fed to Akamaru.

Shino sat down on a bench and covered his face with one of his hands. Oh, this was going to be a disaster. All of his options were either crazy or so far out of his league that trying would only make him a laughing stock. He wasn't going to try and break into the Hokage's office to get a list of all the kunoichi's in the village, that would just be creepy. There had to be a logical way to go about this that wouldn't ruin him in the process. There just had to be.

The sudden buzzing of his bugs told him that something was above him right before it hit him in the head. It felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his skull, and the buzzing of his bugs didn't help matters. Shino grunted, pushing himself to his feet so that he could see what had hit him. What he saw was a crude form of weights contained in wood. It looked like they'd be perfect to wear around the arms or legs in fact. They almost seemed familiar, like he had seen them a years before and only barely remembered it. Where had he seen them again?

"Hey! Are you alright?"

Shino looked up to see a brown-haired kunoichi with brown eyes jumping off the roof of the building behind him. She wore a surprising plain white and burgundy outfit that seemed completely utilitarian rather than stylish. Across her back was a large scroll, and in her arms were bags of what seemed to be weapons, even though they were mostly obscured to Shino's eyes. Her hair was done up in two buns, which was strange due to the fact that it wasn't a style that any other ninja wore. Like everything else about her, it screamed utilitarian.

"I am fine."

"Oh good, I was worried that I had seriously hurt someone." The girl breathed a sigh of relief before picking up the weights and placing them into one of her bags. "Wait, haven't I seen you somewhere?"

"We participated in the chuunin exams three years ago together."

"Oh yeah! You were the guy who blew that boy from Otogakure's arms off with your insects. That was pretty impressive. I never would have thought to do something like that in your place."

"It was nothing. I saw an opportunity and I took it. You didn't do too bad yourself."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "I nearly got my spine broken by a fan."

"Aside from that I mean."

The girl nodded slowly. "Uh huh. Alright well nice meeting you...?"

"Shino Aburame."

"Shino. Got it. I'm Tenten."

Now it was time for Shino to break his stoic expression and raise an eyebrow. "Do you have a last name?"

Tenten only laughed in response. "It's not important." Suddenly she looked at the sun. "Oh crap! I'm late. Sorry Shino, I got to go. It was nice meeting you again!" And without another word the kunoichi jumped back onto the roof and took off.

Now he was back at square one, with no idea of what he was going to do, or how he was going to show Kiba up. Wait a second, didn't he just meet a new kunoichi? And he didn't even ask where she was going! Great, Shino was starting to turn into Kiba. If he got any more forgetful or dim-witted he'd probably start attracting flees... again.

Shino looked down at his hand where a few bugs were crawling. Well, it's not like he had to be the one to follow here to find out where she was going. At the very least, he could find out if she was single...


	3. Chapter 3

He just couldn't stand it anymore. Normally, Shino was the pinnacle of calm. At least, he was compared to his teammates. In hindsight, it was rather easy to seem calm when you were compared to the over-zealous Kiba or the indecisive Hinata. And yet the two of them seemed to be having a perfectly functioning relationship. It seemed that way whenever Shino saw them at least. He considered the idea that he was becoming a third wheel, and it didn't sit well with him. Two weeks ago he would have considered the thought impossible. Now, it gnawed at him.

He had never really considered how little social interaction he had outside of his squad. With Hinata and Kiba... occupied, that left Kurenai, but she was occupied with her child and the like. When did he become the strange bug guy?

Well, maybe he just needed to do what all normal men his age did. Hang out in public places and act cool. That couldn't be too hard right?

The first place that came to mind were the hot springs, but the idea of getting half naked and sitting in boiling water only conjured up mental images of his bugs screaming in pain. They didn't much like boiling water; he couldn't imagine why.

There was the library, but since it wasn't the place to strike up a conversation, it was out. Eventually, he settled on browsing the various shops in the village. Shopping was always a way to meet new and interesting people if his father was to believed. Of course, his father spent a lot of time talking to his beetles; maybe that wasn't the man he should be taking social advice from.

Unfortunately he didn't have any other options at the moment. He slowly made his way through the village, looking for opportunities to start up conversations while browsing. Granted, this never happened; as it turned out he wasn't really sure what to say to people he didn't know, and he didn't want to come off as creepy by randomly walking up to someone and starting up a conversation. Heaven knew he didn't need help coming off as creepy considering his clan.

After two or three hours Shino found himself standing in the local weapons shop, staring a shelves upon shelves of kunai and shuriken like they somehow held the key to helping him with his problem. This entire experiment had felt like a total failure. Maybe he just needed to take a new approach to this problem. There had to be a logical way for him to proceed...

"I wouldn't buy those kunai I were you. They're terribly unbalanced."

Shino turned to his left to see Tenten leaning towards him and inspecting the kunai he had been looking at. He was glad that his clothing and glasses hid his mildly surprised expression. "How can you tell? They seem to be just like all the others." Smooth Shino. Smooth.

Tenten picked up one of the kunai, and began twirling it around in her hand. "It's like anything else; when you deal with something long enough you begin to see the subtle differences between seemingly identical things." She placed the blade back among the others and turned to him again, a small smile on her face. "So! What brings you here? Looking for anything in particular or just stocking up?"

Shino shrugged, although it was so slight that it was almost impossible to tell. "Just browsing. I was interested in discovering what other kinds of tools were available for use."

"Well if there is anything you need to know, don't hesitate to ask. There isn't a weapon in here I haven't used before."

Suddenly it seemed that things were going his way. Now that he had some kind of direction, he could move forward in a logical manner. "Actually, I was wondering if you could help me find some high quality throwing knives. My clan needs some and would rather not have to go far to acquire them."

Tenten tapped her lips with a finger as she thought for a few moments, then snapped her fingers. Her eyes lit up, like it was Christmas morning or something. "I know just the thing! Come on, I'll show you where they are."

She grabbed Shino's arm, dragging him across the store to one of the far corners. Knives of every shape, size, and variety lay on the shelves and on the walls, but Tenten crouched down and pulled a box out from under the bottom shelf. "The owner doesn't like people coming in and touching all the expensive stuff, so you have to know where to look. I think this will suit your clan's needs." She pulled one of the blades from the box and handed it over, her eyes seemingly scanning him to see what he thought.

The blades were finely crafted and razor sharp, with ornately carved wooden handles. The knife was perfectly balanced for throwing, and Shino almost didn't want to consider doing that with how nice it seemed to be. It truly had to be the work of a master bladesmith, and there was an entire box of them in this shop. What else was in this place that the owner didn't let people see?

"It's alright. I am unsure that my clan requires something so ornate."

Tenten deflated slightly, seemingly disappointed in his response. "Oh. Well, there are lots of other blades that are a bit more economical." She took the blade from Shino and delicately placed it back into the box before hiding it away again. When she stood, she didn't seem to be as enthusiastic as before, although she didn't seem to be angry with him.

Shino felt a pang of guilt as her expression changed; here she was enjoying herself and he had seemingly ruined it. He had to fix it; it wasn't fair for her to be unhappy when she was taking time out of her day to help him out. "I am also looking for fuma shuriken. The ones my clan bought recently were of poor quality and broke upon use."

Again her expression shifted; her hands were clenched into fists and it was clear that something he had said bothered her. "Ugh! I'm sorry to hear that your clan got swindled like that. People keep trying to pass off low quality ninja tools, and it just gives the tools a bad name. You'd think people would have more respect for the craft!"

"One would assume that, yes. But far too often people are willing to put profit ahead of respect."

"I know, right? It's terrible, simply terrible. I don't think I could forgive someone who did something like that."

Shino nodded; he enjoyed conversing with someone who was this passionate about something. It was a good contrast to his own outward demeanor. Admittedly, he tried his best to keep his mind focused on the conversation, but he couldn't help but notice that there was something about Tenten that he found appealing. Maybe it was the way she carried herself, or the way she seemed to be more interested in weapons than with appearances, or perhaps it was just because Shino was desperate to get to know someone knew. Whatever it was, he was having a good time, and he wanted to get to know her better.

"You seem like someone who takes their weapons very seriously. Perhaps you would be willing to give me a demonstration as to how to best utilize these tools?"

"Hmm... I can't do it today. But I am available tomorrow, just after lunch. Want to meet up here, say around one?"

Shino nodded, but again it was barely noticeable with how restrained it was. "One sounds perfect. I will meet you here."

Tenten clasped her hands together. "Great! I can't wait! Make sure to think about anything you'd like to see so that I can help you out with it tomorrow alright?"

"Will do. I guess I should be going now. My clan will be interested to know about what I've learned here."

"Alright, say hi to them for me!"

Shino nodded again, before turning and walking out of the store. As soon as he got outside of earshot of the building, he let out a deep breath that he didn't even realize he was holding it. Not to mention the fact that he had blatantly lied to Tenten about his clan being interested in weapons; the Aburame's were not exactly known for their weapon jutsu.

Still, it had given him a reason to meet up with her again. He felt bad for deceiving her, but it was only a little white lie. It wasn't like it was a big deal... right? No, of course not. Everything would work out just like Shino had planned. He had already worked out all the things that he needed to read up on so that he didn't come off like he didn't know what he was talking about tomorrow. All that was left was to actually sit down and research it. With his purpose finally clearly defined, Shino made his way to the library. He had a date with a book on the theory and use of ninja tools in combat.


	4. Chapter 4

Everything was going as planned. Shino had spent the night before reading up on weaponry so that he wouldn't come off like a fool when he talked to Tenten. Sure he wasn't an expert by any means, but he hadn't studied like this since his days in the academy.

He arrived fifteen minutes early at the designated place, the weapon shop in the downtown section of the village. He knew there wasn't much of a point in arriving early, but Shino refused to leave anything to chance. The impression he'd make by being late would have been terrible; it was better to be safe than sorry.

Of course this left Shino with a little bit of time on his hands. He pulled out the book and began skimming it, making sure to keep track of the time so he didn't get caught reading it. Just as he decided to close it and place it back in his jacket, the object of his interest appeared.

Tenten gracefully landed a few feet away from him, that large scroll still across her back. She straightened out her clothing with her hands, before turning and smiling to Shino. "Hey! Glad to see that you made it!"

Shino nodded ever-so-slightly. "Indeed. I did not wish to keep you waiting. You are remarkably punctual."

She tilted her head slightly, looking confused. "Really? Well I suppose there is nothing worse than being late. Besides, when you choose to specialize in thrown weaponry you have to be able to time your throws perfectly. I guess that just carried over into the rest of my life."

"Makes sense. Regardless, shall we go? We don't want to waste time."

"Of course! Follow me!"

Tenten took off again, forcing Shino to focus on following her instead of planning out what he was going to do next. He had figured that he would be able to recite a bit more of the information he had learned from the book in his head on the way over. Instead, he was forced to focus on keeping up with Tenten, who was moving at a truly staggering pace. Shino was used to such things, considering he had dealt with Kiba for the past few years, but it was completely throwing off his plans.

It took only a few minutes to get to the forest where they were going to be training. Surprisingly, there were already targets set up, and Shino could see that they had been used. It seemed that Tenten had used this place before. It made sense when Shino thought about it; the place was away from most foot traffic, the environment was suitably complex to make training a challenge, and there was little to no chance any missed throws would accidentally miss or ricochet and hit an innocent bystander.

Shino watched as Tenten set her scroll down and began pulling out more scrolls, lining them up alongside one another. They were a multitude of colors, making Shino wondered what each one represented, or even if they were color coded at all. For all he knew they could be just there for decoration, but based on what Shino had seen, the only things Tenten didn't like simple were weapons. There had to be a system, there had to be.

"So! What would you like to learn about first?" Tenten had gotten that gleam in her eye again, along with that small smile that Shino had seen the day before when she was talking about weapons. All he had to do was keep her talking. That seemed to work for Kiba and Hinata; it would totally work for him, right?

"I believe that it would be best to look into fuma shuriken first." That would work; if he didn't bring those up then he'd get caught in his lie. Couldn't have that.

Tenten nodded ad picked up one of the scrolls. In an instant she had unrolled it and summoned up multiple pairs of the large and collapsible shuriken. "I figured you'd want to see these first, so I made sure to take a few more than normal in case a few of them got broken. So, what would you like to know about first?"

Shino moved to pick up one of the shuriken, sliding his finger along one of the blade, seeing how sharp it was. He stopped almost immediately, noticing that he was already starting to cut his finger ever so slightly. These were really sharp. "Perhaps we should start with the best way to use them, and their most effective use."

One of the shuriken whirled around in her hand before she threw it through the forest. With a flick of her wrist, the blade curved through the air, flying back towards her. She caught it with ease slowing the spinning blade with ease. "Alright! Let's start."

For the next few hours Shino was instructed in the use of just about every weapon he could imagine, and many he didn't even knew existed. He tried to quantify and categorize all the information he was receiving. The casual reading of the book had in no way prepared him for this. Still, he was really impressed with Tenten; she was quite talented and fun to be around as well. Of course, he never said any of that; that was at least two more meetings ahead on his projected relationship schedule. He didn't want to come off as being too forceful.

"Shino! Look out!"

He heard the voice just in time, right as a kama flew through the air at high speeds, narrowly missing his left arm. He inwardly cursed himself for getting so careless. "Thank you for the warning."

Tenten made her way over to where the kama had landed and pulled it out of the tree. Her white outfit was slightly dirty, and her hair was a bit messed up. And yet, Shino still found her strangely beautiful. He didn't really understand this, it went against all the things that other people had mentioned in his presence.

She sighed again before starting to gathering up her scrolls. "Well, that's probably enough for today."

"Agreed. I would like to do this again, if you are available to do it."

She immediately took on a confused reaction, with her eyebrow raised and a mystified look in her eyes. "Really?"

Shino nodded, actually nodded, this time. "Yes. This was quite informative. I also enjoyed spending time with you. It is a shame we had not done so until now."

"Yeah, I wonder why our paths haven't crossed since the Chunnin exams?" His responsive shrug seemed to have been answer enough for Tenten, since she continued without missing a beat. "Well, I wouldn't mind continuing these sessions soon. Say... in a few days?"

"That would be ideal. I thank you again for being able to spend some of your time aiding me."

"Oh it was nothing. I'm sure that you're under a lot of pressure from your clan since that problem with the fuma you told me about."

"Oh, no things are fine. I just felt that if I was going to learn, that I should learn from the best."

Tenten blushed slightly. "Well I've had a lot of time to practice."

"I would say that it has paid off. So would you be willing to accompany me to get something to eat?"

"Well... I was going to head back to my apartment... but I suppose I'd be willing to get something to eat. Anywhere in mind?"

Great, now he was on the spot. He hadn't actually thought that this would work out. Alright, what would Kiba do here? No, worse idea. He'd probably eat kibble. Alright, all he had to do was think... Then he saw her hair. "Do you like dumplings?" Smooth.

"Of course I do! Actually, there's this place I've been meaning to try... mind if we head there?"

"Not at all. Lead the way."

Tenten smiled and quickly gathered up her scrolls before walking up next to Shino. "Let's go!" She took off, again forcing Shino to play catch up once again. For a woman who had spent the last few hours training with him, she barely seemed winded! For that matter, she maintained her positive attitude. By this point, Kiba was whining about being bored and Hinata was playing the peacemaker between him and Shino. Mostly so Shino didn't sick his insects onto him and Kiba didn't try to feed Shino to Akamaru.

It didn't take long to get that long to get over to the place Tenten had referred to. It was a small but charming place, functioning in the same capacity as many of the ramen shops in the city. Shino took a seat next to Tenten, causing the cook to give the two a strange look. Shino knew that the two of them were clearly contrasting. She looked like someone who was excited to be there, and Shino seemed to be that shady figure that was allergic to sunlight with his high necked coat and sunglasses.

The two of them enjoyed the meal in silence; Shino had already moved off his timetable. He didn't even know why he had asked her. He was totally not following the plan at all. Sure, he should probably have said something, but he really didn't want to say anything and ruin the mood. Which meant he came off like the cold and emotionless statuesque figure that he always was.

Beside him, Tenten stretched out and sighed in contentment. "I'm glad we came here. I can't believe I was missing this."

"I agree. This was much better than I originally expected."

Shino could see her looking at him, but he made no effort to act like he did. He had to play it cool; he had to hold himself back before he stupidly moved forward with his plan before he was ready. This was just getting more awkward by the minute for him. He needed a way to get out of here and fast.

He slowly got to his feet, playing it as casually as possible. "I'm afraid I must be going. This has been fun however." Then, before she could answer, he started walking away with his thoughts going at a mile a minute. What was he doing? This wasn't going to help him! Was she even going to want to be around him after this? Why did he ask her to have lunch with him? Why did she accept?

"Shino, wait up!"

Against every instinct he had, Shino stopped in his tracks, but didn't turn around. He couldn't do this anymore. It wasn't like a mission where he was assigned to do this for the village, this was all a lie! And he was just feeding off of her good will like a parasite to make him feel better about being the third wheel in his squad.

Tenten walked up behind him and placed a hand on Shino's shoulder, but he shrugged it off. "I can't do this anymore. It's not right to take advantage of your kindness like this."

"What are you talking about?"

"My clan didn't have any problems with weapons. I don't really have any interest in them like you do."

There was a few moments of silence between them before Tenten walked around him so she could see his face, or at least, the parts of his face that were visible. "So then why all this? Were you deliberately wasting my time? Or did you just think that you'd get in good with me and then blow me off?"

"It's not like that. I wanted to get closer to you. I needed an excuse to do so."

"You could have just said that you know. You didn't have to make up a story about it. We're both chunnin; it's not like spending time with one another is a strange thing."

"I'm aware. It is just that... well I am unsure of the best way to say it."

Suddenly, Tenten's eyes seemed to come alight with righteous anger. She shoved a finger into Shino's chest, pushing him back slightly in surprise. "Oh. No. You are not going to tell me that you did this to get close to me so you could get me into bed with you. I don't care what you or anyone else thinks, I'm not someone you can just seduce and manipulate like some... floozy! Damn it, I'm a ninja just like you, and I'm just as strong and as competent as any male shinobi! Don't you dare tell me you did this thinking that because I'm not like the other kunoichi that somehow I'm in need of comforting all the time, or that you'll just be able to waltz right up to me, say a few words and make me fall in love with you before you walk off and tell everyone how much of a joke it was." She clenched her fists and began to storm off, obviously furious. Then, she stopped and looked back at him. "I thought you were different Shino."

This was not what he wanted at all. Not only had he stupidly ruined his chances with her, but he had also made her furious in the process! The plan was failing, and he had no back up. He had to do something, anything to try and save this sinking ship before it was too late!

"Tenten, please, wait a minute. Allow me to explain."

She stopped, but didn't turn around to face him; Shino felt a pain in his chest as she wouldn't face him. "Explain what? You lied to me so that you could get in close to me. Figure out all my secrets. Maybe even get me to love you. Don't even think about saying that's not what you were trying to do; if you had good intentions you wouldn't have felt the need to lie to me about why you were hanging around me."

"That's not why I was trying to get to know you better."

"Then why?" Tenten whirled around, and got right up into his face. Her fists were clenched, and for a moment Shino thought she was going to try to punch him in the face. Instead, this close-up view of her eyes showed Shino exactly what she was feeling. It wasn't just rage; she also seemed sincerely hurt by this.

Now he felt even worse. It wasn't fair to her that he had hurt her in order to fulfill his own needs. He had to do something. He had to say something. She had demanded an answer, and he knew he owed her one. "Because you're beautiful."

His response seemed to blindside her for a moment, as the shock was evident on her face. He assumed it was because someone like Shino saying something like that was probably unlikely. He looked like someone who would keep secrets, not like someone who would hand out compliments like that.

"W-what?"

"Because you're beautiful." He repeated it, even though he knew she had heard it. It was mostly for his own benefit as he tried to force himself to just come clean. He had already come this far, there was no turning back now. "When you bumped into me the other day, something about you made me want to get to know you better. When you met me in the weapons shop, I had gone there with the intent to meet new people, but I did not expect to see you there. I cannot explain it, but I wished to spend more time with you. So I lied and created a reason because I felt that if that reason didn't exist, I wouldn't be able to meet up with you again. I apologize for lying to you; it was wrong of me and I cannot express my regret that I managed to hurt you in the process. I simply did not think that someone as beautiful as you would desire to spend any time with someone like me unless I created a situation for it." He stayed silent after that, expecting her to get even more furious, or perhaps even strike him for it. He knew he had messed up, and he had just told her so. He didn't even register what describing her as beautiful might mean to her.

Strangely enough in his eyes, she didn't attack him for his explanation. Instead, she looked away from him, her head down so that her bangs covered her eyes from his sight. "Do you really think that I'm beautiful? Even looking like I do now?"

It was true that her normal white shinobi outfit was dirty from training, her hair was a mess, and she was scratched up and smelled of sweat from the workout. But none of that mattered to Shino. "I do."

Tenten relaxed a bit, but she was still quite tense. She hid a blush before looking back up to him with a serious expression. "I'm thankful for the compliment. I'm glad you wanted to get to know me better. But you lied to me, and you did it for selfish reasons." Then she let out a deep breath. "But I don't think you did it for malicious reasons. But I don't know if I can trust you now that I know that you've already been lying to me."

"I understand if you no longer wish to see me." He may have remained cool and calm on the outside, but on the inside it felt like his heart was being ripped out. He ruined everything for himself!

"I'll... need some time to think on it. Go back to where we were earlier in two days. If I decide to forgive you, I'll show up." Then, Tenten turned and walked away, leaving Shino to stare after her.

Oh man, he had really messed things up. And yet, it wasn't that he had possibly lost his chance to woo Tenten that was bothering him. It was the fact that she had admitted to him that he had hurt her by getting close to her on false pretenses. He had basically built their relationship thus far on lies; she was right to be mad at him. Shino felt positively awful about the entire situation. But he wasn't confused any longer. He silently prayed that Tenten would at least show up to their next meeting because he vowed that he would make things right. He didn't care if she wanted to be his friend, or if she ever wanted to see him again after this. He was going to apologize as best as he could, and do whatever he could to make it up to her... and hope that she found it within her to forgive him for his stupidity. He stood there in the middle of the street for what felt like forever before taking off to figure out what to do. He needed advice, and the only person he knew who could give it to him was his rival... and teammate.


	5. Chapter 5

"And that is the situation as it stands now." Shino sighed, this was the last place he wanted to be at the moment. But he was desperate; he needed a solution and he was out of ideas.

Next to him, his shaggy-haired teammate poured himself another glass of sake. He let out a long sigh and looked at Shino. Then, he took a drink and looked away thoughtfully. "Well. That sure is something. Didn't think you'd be one to get yourself into a mess like this."

"I didn't plan for this to happen. Things moved quicker than I expected." There was a bit of distain coming through in Shino's voice, unintentionally showing his annoyance with what was being implied by his dog-like teammate.

"See, that's the problem Shino. This isn't a scenario that you can make plans around. There isn't a timetable or anything. What makes or breaks the whole thing is timing and intent. You kind of failed at both buddy."

"I didn't fail. I miscalculated."

Kiba sighed deeply and shook his head. "No, you failed. You failed to understand that to get anything out of a relationship, you need to put things into it as well. You tried to play it safe and keep yourself all secure in your shell, and only managed to make a mess. In fact, the best thing you've done was coming clean, because at least now you haven't built your friendship with Tenten on a lie."

"The best? Kiba, because I told the truth, she probably hates me."

"Don't jump to conclusions Shino. Tomorrow, you'll know for sure. But before then, we need to figure out a way to get you out of this 'I lied to you so that I could get into your pants' situation you're in."

"I didn't lie to get into her pants!" Shino was almost shocked that he was getting this riled up, but then again this wasn't exactly one of his best moments. Normally he was so calm; perhaps this whole situation was actually bad for him.

"Maybe you didn't, but that's how it looks, and I can't guarantee that she won't think that's what you were doing."

"So what do I do about it?"

Kiba sighed. "I'm not sure."

"What?" How could Kiba not know? "You have a successful relationship going. How could you not know what to do?"

"Like I said, it's not exactly set in stone. Every woman is different. What works for one might not work for another."

"Great. So basically, I'm doomed."

"Now hold on, I didn't say that. This situation isn't unsalvageable. At least, I don't think it is. Here's what you're going to do. Tomorrow, you're going to show up, you're going to apologize like your life depends on it, and you're going to get her something to show you mean it. And I hope you mean it, because if she doesn't think you're serious, then you're pretty much doomed."

Shino sighed again. "Great. What am I supposed to say?"

"Hold on, that's not for me to say. That's all on you."

"Again, what am I supposed to say."

"That's up to you. But honestly, I'd make it heartfelt, and learn how to actually get out of your comfort zone. Oh, and find something she likes. That's really all I can tell you."

Shino stood up. He had less than twenty-four hours to get this done and the clock was ticking. "Alright. Thanks for the help Kiba."

"No worries. Hope it goes well for you."

Then he took off, trying to think back to what Tenten seemed interested in when he had met her at the store. He would worry about figuring out what to say to her once he had the gift. First he went to the weapon shop, then he stood dumbfounded as the sheer enormity of the challenge before him sunk in. What was he going to get her? She probably owned every single weapon in here! What was he going to do? Go for something symbolic? Something expensive?

Shino spent hours in the store, debating on what he could get. This was like life or death for him; he couldn't imagine a tie when he had put more thought into a gift. Then it hit him. He knew exactly what to get. It was so perfect that he couldn't believe that it took so long to think of it. After quickly buying the gift, he fled the store like his hair was on fire so that he could give himself as much time as possible to think about what he was going to say.

But when the time came to go and meet her, Shino didn't feel like he had thought of anything. Nothing he tried to imagine himself saying seeming to be good enough. And as he paced around the area that Tenten had said to be, he kept distracting himself by stopping himself from clutching the gift in his jacket hard enough to cut himself.

A dull thud to his right signaled the arrival of his bun-wearing object of his affection. Shino silently swallowed, happy his glasses kept his eyes from revealing how nervous he was. Of course, they didn't save him from Tenten's hard gaze, silently judging him. She was like a harsh winter mountain peak, glaring down and him and intimidating him with the seemingly indomitable challenge that awaited him.

"Tenten... I have something to say."

"I figured you would. Well, I decided I would at least hear you out, so... go for it." She sighed and leaned back against a tree, waiting.

Shino took a deep breath, his mind racing at a million miles a minute. "Listen... I'm sorry I lied to you. I promise I wasn't trying to make you like me just so I could get into your pants. I was trying to get to know you because you interested me and I wanted to get closer to you..." Oh god did he really say that? He must have. This was a terrible idea.

Before his dumb mouth said anything else, Shino pulled out the gift from his jacket. It was one of the expensive throwing knives that she had shown him days before. "I bought this for you to show that I wasn't just stringing you along. I'm bad at explaining my intentions, but I didn't want any of this to happen. I just needed a reason to get to know you better and be around you. I just thought that if I didn't invent a reason, you wouldn't want to get to know me."

There was a few moments of silence between the two of them before Tenten slowly moved forward and took the knife in her hands. She spun it in her palm a few times before throwing it behind her and hitting a painted target dead center. For the briefest of moments, Shino thought that she had rejected it. But then, she turned back to him and nodded.

"It's perfectly balanced, the mark of high quality." Again silence fell for a few moments. "Shino, I wouldn't have needed a reason to get to know you better if you weren't such a cold person. Part of the reason we never connected was because you never showed who you actually were. When you were honest, it was the first time I thought I was seeing the real you. And now, I feel like I'm seeing the real you again. And I'm willing to try again to get to know you... but only if the you I'm getting to know is the you I'm seeing now."

Shino nodded. "I promise. No more hiding behind in my shell."

Tenten gave the smallest of smiles. "Apology accepted. Now, let's make up for that day wasted and get some training done." She moved over to pull the knife out of the tree, giving Shino a good look at Tenten as she walked. He did want to get to know her better, but it didn't hurt that she was beautiful. And as they trained that day, Shino never stopped reminding himself that for the moment, he was the luckiest man in the world.


End file.
